Short posts ain't my style, which I understand puts me on the outs with an ever-increasing portion of the readership, folks (not any of you bright persons, of course) who think of polysyllabism as a venereal disease.

There are a few angles to take on this recent, latest, tedious, unnecessary debate over Chicago White Sox attendance. But lucky for me, they've almost all been made in Tom Fornelli's brilliant call-and-response answer (indeed, it won't be long before "going FJM" on bad writing makes its way into the AP Stylebook) to the sheer idiocy Tim Baffoe posted over at CBSChicago.

No, I'm not going to link to Baffoe. You can get there through Fornelli, who probably already dirtied himself having to link to Baffoe. But if you're going to thrash a fella that hard, guilt alone oughta compel you to link.

Fornelli doesn't care if more fans show up to Wrigley, in light of all else being a White Sox fan accords him. I imagine most White Sox fans feel that way.

But that said, it's important not to underestimate the impact of some 28 years of the most powerful media entity in Chicago owning one baseball team, and not the other. And that holds true even if the decision-makers at Tribune sports—or likely, the whole of the Tower itself—chose only the most subtle of ways in highlighting their team and downplaying the White Sox.We all know the Tribune didn't choose the most subtle means of bias, not when pot-smoking in the U.S. Cellular neighborhood graces the front page of the paper on the day of Game 1 of the ALDS in 2005. But I digress. For the sake of argument, imagine what 28 years of such subtle bias—some 10,000 days—could accomplish.

Could it earn you 11,000 more fans per game? Fucking well right, it could.

And look at how things continue to break against the White Sox in terms of coverage. The holdover bias from the actual Tribune newspaper/site is hardly notable any longer (at least as far as I've bothered to follow). But look at the discrepancies in the broadcast schedule (as laid out before the season) and dare to tell me that there's no lingering bias in the way things wring out:

Channel

White Sox

Cubs

CSN

94

71

WGN

30

63

WCIU

25

8*

CSN+

7

9

FOX

5

9

ESPN

1

2

Total

162

162

*apparently eight is the customary and traditional (contractual?) WCIU max for the Cubbies each season.

The national games are added just to get to 162, but all that's concerning here are local broadcasts. The only possible head-to-head broadcast disadvantage the Cubbies have is with two extra, where-the-hell-are-they-oh-it's-the-number-of-the beast-on-DirecTV CSN+ games. The Cubbies have more than twice the number of national broadcasts (63-30) via WGN, while the White Sox have more than three times the number of please-no-not-more-Family-Guy-promos WCIU games, and if that's not the equivalent of black sheeping a team, what is?The White Sox getting some 23 more CSN games is meh epitomized. Perhaps that provides a nice bonus for viewers, in that you can enjoy some pre- and/or postgame coverage you wouldn't normally—but then for White Sox fans, that also requires heavy doses of Chuck, Beltin' and Big Hurt, and sometimes even the insufferable pointlessness of PGL Interactive.Anyway, this post was supposed to be short, merely praising Fornelli's fangs and then dropping the mic. Oops.Well, as the credits roll here, I'll add that the normally-incisive and entertaining Jon Greenberg weighed in on the attendance topic yesterday in a surprisingly pedestrian manner. Oddly enough, the other writer to address attendance was not another city columnist but Sun-Times beat Daryl Van Schouwen, who likewise didn't take much of a stand but did incorporate some tweets and addressed the prohibitive pricing that makes a weeknight game against anyone more exception than rule.Plus, Daryl included this typically kickass Ken Williams gem:

“I know there at least 2 million of our fans rooting and watching every day in their own way. We met them all one day on LaSalle Street [at the 2005 World Series parade], and I’m pretty sure they haven’t moved."

Bravo to the GM for showing some restraint vis-a-vis fanbase blame and sort of getting off the nut of that hopeless fight.Some of the other writers in town should take his cue.

About Poetry in Pros

Brett most recently logged a couple of beats at CSNChicago, first following the Blackhawks and covering their first Stanley Cup win in 49 years, then shifting to the South Side and the White Sox.

His sportswriting career began right before the turn of the century, first as an editor for Basketball News and later editing Basketball Digest and Bowling Digest. He has written for Baseball Digest and MLB Trade Rumors, as well as the Chicago White Sox and MLB World Series programs, as well as Slam, Hoop, Inside Stuff, Courtside, Rinkside, and numerous NBA game programs. He has been featured in ESPN the Magazine, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Baltimore Sun and Crain's Chicago Business, and on Comcast Sports Net, NBA-TV, NHL.com, MLB.com, WLS-TV, WGN-TV and the BBC. He's also written features for the NBA Finals and NBA All-Star Game programs.

Brett is the author of the essential baseball reference work 'The Wit and Wisdom of Ozzie Guillen.' When Ozzie first saw the book, on Opening Night 2006, he cracked wise to those in his manager's office, asking, "What's wisdom?" To which owner Jerry Reinsdorf replied, "Don't worry, Ozzie. You don't have any."

A lifelong Chicago sports fan, the first game Brett attended was on Dec. 4, 1976, watching the Bulls snap a (still) franchise-record 13-game losing streak and setting in motion the playoff run that would come to be defined as the Miracle on Madison. At Brett's first White Sox game on June 4, 1977, Richie Zisk of the South Side Hit Men homered over the roof at Comiskey Park at a time when the feat was as rare as a no-hitter. Brett's first Chicago Bears game was on Oct. 7, 1984, when Walter Payton broke the all-time NFL career rushing mark.

More than anything, however, Brett is a baseball and a White Sox fan, having seen hundreds of games over his lifetime, including a walk-off grand slam by Carlos Lee to defeat the Cubbies, the infamous Michael Barrett sucker-punch on A.J. Pierzynski, a then-season record home run by Oscar Gamble in 1977, Bobby Thigpen's 50th season save in 1990, and the classic Blackout tiebreaker win over the Twins in 2008. There have been many pilgrimages to see the team, including a September 1990 drive up from Texas to see a final series at Comiskey Park, an April 1991 flight to watch the otherwise-unmentionable first game at the then-New Comiskey Park, outrunning a snowstorm to see the White Sox be whitewashed in a late September game at Kauffman Stadium, and a jaunt down to the Hovering Sombrero in 2005 to catch the club take on the Tampa Bay Rays.

His highlight as a fan is, of course, witnessing the entire home run of 2005 White Sox playoff victories, including the two extraordinary wins over the Houston Astros at USCF that spurred a World Series sweep. More recently, he took in Mark Buehrle's perfect game in 2009, during which Brett made the boldest prediction imaginable—not of an eventual perfect game, but a Josh Fields grand slam! Brett has watched games in every major league city.

Brett graduated from Texas Christian University with a Journalism and English degree and came thisclose to finishing his English master's at Kansas State University while teaching composition to disinterested agribusiness majors. He's won a number of writing awards in areas as varied as poetry, fiction, features, news reporting and opinion writing. Brett lives in Florida with his incomparable wife, Angelique.

Poetry in Pros Trivia

Now that you know a little bit about Poetry in Pros writer Brett Ballantini, see how you score below. True or false, Brett:

Believes that the ABA saved professional basketball.

Borrowed the title of the first draft of his master's thesis from a Camper Van Beethoven song.

Co-founded and played in a band called Ethnocentric Republicans, who once shared a bill with 15-minutes-of-fame grunge rockers The Toadies.

Considers nachos piled high with jalapenos as his go-to concession food.

Gave a Crunch bar to then-Nestle spokesman Shaquille O'Neal before their first interview together in Milwaukee. Later saw an empty Crunch bar wrapper in Shaq's locker.

Gave three photographs from his personal collection to the Chicago Bulls for their "walk of fame" leading to the locker room at the United Center.

Had four front teeth.

Has appeared in one movie, in which he was murdered when Albert Einstein slammed his head in a door.

Has appeared on the cover of a magazine with a circulation of 100,000. As Santa Claus. Bowling.

Has attended just three games in Wrigley Field as a fan. One was to see the Chicago Sting.

Has been a vegetarian for 30 years.

Has been doused by Bill Veeck's outfield shower in two different decades, in two different White Sox parks.

Hasn't cried over a game since Tito Landrum crushed that homer off of Britt Burns in October 1983.

Has worked for at least seven publications that are no longer in business.

Kissed the Minnie Minoso statue in the outfield concourse at Sox Park on the cheek as a good-luck gesture before Game 1 of the 2005 World Series.

Caught a foul ball while covering a preseason game from the roof of Tempe Diablo Stadium. On his birthday.

To Wit:

"When I build a fire under a person, I do not do it merely because of the enjoyment I get out of seeing him fry, but because he is worth the trouble. It is then a compliment, a distinction; let him give thanks and keep quiet. I do not fry the small, the commonplace, the unworthy."